When a terrorist threat is made to the Miss United States pageant/scholarship program, the FBI must send in one of their undercover agents to find out the truth and stop disaster from occurring. But who can they send? Their list of possibilities is quickly narrowed to a single contender, Gracie Hart (Bullock), who is slender, pretty and fetching in a swimsuit. Now for the snag... she's also a hard-hitting, gun-toting tomboy whose demeanor is about as feminine as Dolph Lundgren.

As events continue, it becomes apparent that disaster may well be nigh, and it's down to Hart to successfully imitate a pageant contestant, win the trust of the other ladies, and discover who is planning to turn a harmless pageant into a horror movie.

"Gracie Lue Freebush": Dear Jesus, please forgive me for not praying to you before I had a bite of my bagel and schmear.

Annoying Laugh: Whenever Gracie laughs, she also does an oinking-like snort.

Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other!: Other hints of attraction and the urgency of the situation aside, Eric's cry of "Gracie!" as she fumbles with the rigged crown is filled with just the right emotion to invoke this trope. Props to Benjamin Bratt!

Baby Talk: When Eric (justifiably) balks at helping Gracie finish her self-defense demonstration, Gracie uses baby talk to gather support and encouragement from the crowd, and to shame him into helping her finish. He regrets it later (see below).

Betrayal by Inaction: As Gracie frantically tries to plead her case to her superior, she is chewed out and dismissed while her partner stands there silently, never saying a word in her defense. Afterwards, she lashes out at him, who snaps, "Don't look at me like I betrayed you or something". To which she responds, "No, betrayal implies actually doing something. You just stood there."

Big Eater: Gracie, which is part of why joining the pageant is agony for her. Donuts and pastries are replaced with carrots and celery.

Brainless Beauty: Gracie starts the film thinking all beauty-conscious women are this. She's later proven wrong.

Brick Joke: During the pageant when Gracie is trying to get at Cheryl, she punches Mary Jo in the face. In the finale, Mary Jo can be seen wearing a band-aid on her nose.

California Doubling: The first movie was entirely filmed in Texas, despite starting in New York (to make for a more convincing street, Austin had brown plastic bags of fake trash and fake NYC taxi cabs). The second is mostly on location, except for a New York scene which clearly has a Las Vegas hotel in the background.

The Cast Showoff: An in-movie example. When Gracie is stuck without a talent before the show, she decides to improv and show her FBI combat training instead.

Also, the actresses are actually doing the talent tricks — except for Cheryl with the fire batons. Heather Burns was willing to learn how to twirl, but not to expose herself to flames (a professional replaces her).

Chekhov's Gun: Gracie's water glass trick. Also the "hits" to her enemies' instep and nose (in the prologue), and solar plexus and groin. SING!

Demoted to Extra: Understandably, most of the pageant contestants. The only ones that were actually in the movie for any decent amount of time (aside from Gracie as New Jersey) were Rhode Island, California, New York, Texas, and Hawaii.

Gracie: It's the crown! Victor: Yes, it is! You can taste it now, can't you? [Gracie is taken to the stage, wildly pointing at her head while she protests about the crown, while Victor cheers her on] Victor: Yes, yes. You wear the crown, be the crown, you are the crown!

Drunk on Milk: One of the first scenes shows Gracie at a bar ordering "a pint" and the bartender asking if she's sure. He hands her a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Embarrassing Nickname: When Eric creates her cover ID, he gives her the name "Gracie Lou Freebush," a name she made fun of earlier in the movie and that she absolutely loathes.

Extended Disarming: Gracie can hide an amazing number of weapons (and donuts) in her pageant gown.

Victor: What? No armored car?

Gracie: That would be in my other dress.

Fanservice: In a movie whose general premise requires casting several dozen of the most gorgeous women you can find? Where most scenes take place backstage where the girls are only half dressed in silk robes? Where several scenes are a literal parade of women in swimsuits? You're kidding!

Gracie: He had a gun! Cathy: This is Texas. Everybody has a gun. My florist has a gun!

Help Mistaken for Attack: Gracie's trying to get the crown off Cheryl's head to save her life, but everyone assumes she's an insanely jealous loser trying to steal it.

Hidden Depths: The Miss America finalists, probably intentionally. Far from the air-headed bimbos Grace originally thought they'd be, they're revealed to all be very intelligent, accomplished women in their own right. For instance, Miss New York plays the clarinet, Miss California is a music major who sings opera, Miss Texas does charity work for children, Miss Rhode Island is a science major with a minor in particle physics, etc.

Hidden Wire: Gracie wears one of these, unless she's just had an argument with someone at the FBI.

Hotter and Sexier: With an extra pun for a bonus. When he see Cheryl's baton twirling at the preliminaries at the Alamo, she does a very innocent routine to patriotic music with a very conservative outfit. Later on, after Gracie encourages her to be more confident in herself, she does a much sexier routine to hip-hop music (with batons on fire, hence the "hotter.")

Improbable Age: Miss USA contestants have to be between 18 and 27. Sandra Bullock was 35 when the first film was made (an in-movie case of Dawson Casting, since Gracie mentions in an off-hand remark that she's at least thirty, but the FBI are still trying to pass her off as being in her twenties).

While they tried to explain Bullock's age as her being the best they can find, a few other girls were too old as well. Heather Burns (Rhode Island) and Deirdre Quinn (Texas) were all right, being 25 and 27, respectively, but Wendy Raquel Robinson (California) and Melissa De Sousa (New York) were both 33.

Innocently Insensitive: Gracie makes fun of baton twirling as a talent, right before asking Cheryl what her talent is. Cue "kicked puppy" look from Cheryl, and "I could just kick myself" look from Gracie.

Insistent Terminology: Ms. Morningside would like you to know that the Miss America contest is not a beauty pageant; it is a scholarship program.

Ironic Echo: "It is not a beauty pageant — it is a scholarship program!" [rolls eyes] Yeah, yeah. Yes!

Ironic Name: Gracie is usually a nickname of "Grace," which is ironic since she's not really gracious (def. "Courteous, kind, and pleasant") or graceful (def. "Having or showing grace or elegance")

Like a Daughter to Me: Vic says that if he had a daughter, she'd be like Gracie. Of course, he backpedals and says that's the reason why he doesn't have children.

Lovable Alpha Bitch: Miss Texas certainly wants to win and looks shocked and furious when she doesn't — but she still helps Gracie out and is nice to the other girls. She also tries to intervene in what she thinks are Gracie's crazed attempts at taking the crown from Cheryl, not realizing that Gracie is trying to save Cheryl's life.

A Minor Kidroduction: We're introduced to Gracie when she's reading a Nancy Drew book in elementary school. She defends a boy she has a crush on from bullies, but when he calls her a loser for making it look like he needs a girl to protect him, she punches him in the face and calls him a wimp when he runs away.

Never Heard That One Before: A sleazy pageant assistant is reading off the names of the contestants. When he gets to Miss Washington, he comments, "Nice apples". Which Washington State is known for, but he's clearly referring to either her breasts or buttocks. Her reaction makes it quite clear this isn't the first time she's heard something like this.

Miss Washington: Original. You come up with that all by yourself?

Never My Fault: At the end, when Morningside's murder attempt is exposed and she is arrested by Gracie, she blames everyone and everything but herself.

Morningside: [to Gracie] You think you saved something tonight, but all you did was to destroy the dream of young women all over this country!Gracie: What, you think that their dream is to get blown up?

No Guy Wants an Amazon: Grace was harshly rejected by a boy she liked when she was a little girl for this reason

Obfuscating Stupidity: Most of the girls come across as the stereotypes Gracie associates with pageants, but for the most part this is because the girls are all very well-trained in saying exactly the right things to get them the points needed to win, even if makes them seem brainless. Cheryl, who spends most of the film appearing to be a sweet and gentle Dumb Blonde, turns out to be a nuclear physicist.

Panty Shot: Of a sort. Gracie wears frilly bloomers as part of her "talent show" outfit.

Power Walk: In both films. The first is the reveal, where we see She Cleans Up Nicely. In the sequel, Gracie and her partner/bodyguard have one when they put on their dark suits.

Precision F-Strike: A loose wire getting reconnected resulted in Gracie getting a painful blast of feedback in her ear. When she screams out "Jesus Christ!" the other contestants are horrified. She eventually turns it around by saying she forgot to pray before eating breakfast.

Rape as Backstory: Cheryl was sexually assaulted by one of her college professors and never told anyone until she drunkenly confides in Gracie during a night out. Played with in that Cheryl doesn't exhibit any of the usual angst issues associated with the trope.

Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Deconstructed. Grace spends the first half of the film thinking all women should downplay their femininity and be tough like men in order to be intelligent and respected, and assumes all beauty-conscious women are shallow airheads. During her time undercover in Miss America, she comes to see that most of the girls are incredibly intelligent, talented, well-rounded people with dreams and hobbies outside of looking pretty. (The pageant is, after all, a scholarship program, and many of the women use beauty as a means to gain that scholarship to move onto brighter tides.) She also comes to realize it's okay for her to wear dresses occasionally too, since doing so doesn't automatically subtract from her own toughness or savvy.

Serial Killings, Specific Target: This is the Big Bad's plan to get away with murdering the winner of the "Miss United States" beauty pageant: they set the whole thing up to look like it was committed by a notorious serial killer calling themselves "The Citizen". Backfires when "The Citizen" is captured by the FBI partway through the film, leaving the villains with nobody to pin their crime on.

Share the Male Pain: The entire audience groans and folds up a little when Eric gets hit with the G of Gracie's self-defense course.

Victor: In place of friends and relationships, you have sarcasm and a gun! Gracie: Oh, I have sarcasm? When every word that comes out of your mouth is dripping with disdain?

Spoiler Title: Gee, I wonder who would win the Miss Congeniality special award?

Suddenly Sexuality: When Miss New York is eliminated, she calls out to her girlfriend in the audience and tells all the lesbians watching that if she can do it, so can they. Grace claps for her, and the producers wonder if they can say "lesbian" on air.

With another layer added, since when he asks if they can say "lesbian," his female assistant director manning the controls simply snarks, "You got a problem with that?"

Paired with Lipstick Lesbian as both Miss New York and her girlfriend are gorgeous. (Fun Fact: The actress playing New York's girlfriend was supposed to be the original Miss New Jersey. A scene where Gracie and Eric confront her about her appearance in Arma-get-it-on was cut; the director felt bad about it, and offered the role of New York's girlfriend to her as an apology.)

Also paired with Straight Gay, as this declaration is the only indication that we get that she's homosexual.

Ungrateful Bastard: As a kid, Gracie defended a boy she liked from bullies, only to be insulted by him because he didn't want everyone to think he needed a girl to stand up for him. She responded by punching him in the nose.

Weaponized Headgear: Cathy Morningside has rigged the prize crown with explosive and intents to detonate it immediately after it's handed over to the winner.

What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: In the movie, Miss Rhode Island's baton twirling talent is treated this way. But during the talent scene at the Alamo, one girl's talent seemed to be making balloon animals.

Your Head Asplode: The Miss United States crown was rigged to blow off the head of whoever was crowned the winner of the contest. Fortunately, Gracie Hart finds this out and gets it off Miss Rhode Island's head before it detonates.

The second movie contains examples of:

Chickification: A major plot point. A result of her Becoming the Mask after the first movie. Even after the real story comes out and Gracie becomes the face of the FBI, the girly-girl persona sticks.

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